Related Tags:

It seems like it’s not just us two-legged animals who have been waging battle against obesity — turns out our pets are fighting the same war… and losing.

A new study, conducted in part by vets at the University of Georgia, shows that more than half of pets in the U.S. are overweight. Specifically, 53% of cats are hefty, and 55% of dogs qualify as obese.

It may not seem like that big of a deal, after all, a plump pooch seems extra cuddly. But those extra pounds come with a price. And it’s the same kind of stuff as you see with overweight humans: arthritis, diabetes, kidney failure, and heart disease.

The good news is that if you’re a pet owner, there’s something you can do to keep Fluffy or Fido from tipping the scales — don’t feed them as much. Sounds like obvious advice, but I don’t recall the last time I saw a dog pushing the grocery cart down the snack aisle and loading up on Ding-Dongs and Doritos.

A little less food, fewer treats, and no scraps, and you can get you animal back to fighting weight. And maybe that’ll inspire you to keep your waistline where you want it to be.

From the study, here’s a cat that weighs 19 lbs but should weigh 10 lbs. The human equivalent would be a woman who is 5’4 and weighs 276 lbs.

ObeseDog48lbs Courtesy University of Georgia

And here’s a dog from the research who weighed in at 48 lbs- and should be 22. In humans, it would be the same as a guy who is 5’9 and weighs 368 pounds.